Kenya: Chaos, an African perspective The on-going political violence in Kenya has been on the front page of Tanzanian newspapers and on the tongues of the Tanzanian people. While waiting for a cobbler on the street to repair my Dansko sport clogs (all for 500 shillings – 50 cents!- and saving me the $110 of …
[You can play a short, 6 min, version of the FACES documentary here. Viva YouTube!] It feels good to be doing creative work again. I’m excited to spend my time brainstorming about sequences, soundtracks, what clips to take out of the 10 hours of raw footage I have to work with. The process is amazing …
[left: “Sony Store” of Kisumu, Kenya. Not exactly the Metreon.] Imagine this: plugging in your laptop at London Heathrow airport (i.e. the upscale mall that also has international flights) while facing HMV and Dixon’s electronics shops, and finding your keyboard filled with dead insect carcasses that you have to clear out before typing. After a …
What makes someone want to come to Kenya? Someone not from here, not black, with no family members nearby, with no connection to the people and community aside from work? For those of us who struggle with having meaning in life, global health work can feel like an answer. The US (and I imagine most …
[left: pus drained out of a client’s lungs by straight IV into the only drainage bag we could find on the island below: our backyard in Sena: straight up cornfields] Someone should tell the folks at San Francisco General Hospital that they’re wrong about something. San Francisco General Hospital is not “As Real as It …
I spent a week in Suba District, the district of Nyanza Province in western Kenya with the highest HIV prevalence of Kenya (35-40%) and where FACES is training HIV providers. There is nothing that I can write that would capture the feeling of being there. It was astounding in every way: the beauty, the rawness, …
My one safari in Kenya – purely for fun – was my trip to Kakamega Forest. It’s one of my favorite places in the world. It is the only rainforest in Kenya, and it’s barely protected by the government. The Kenyans have formed an NGO: KEEP- Kenya Environmental Education Project, to help do some of …
Home visits represent to me the quintessential experience of being a doctor. I get an amazing diversity of background and information about a patient from observing them in their home environment rather than in the clinic. I get the privilege of seeing how they eat, how the sleep, what they do during the day, how …
[photos at left: famous people matatus] You encounter some wild names when you travel – in part because of cultural differences, in part because of writing in English as a second or third language. Asia has some great sign-spotting, but Kenya can definitely join in the competition. Check it out… matatus My personal favorite… -“Retired …
[photo at left: me addressing the FACES staff crowd during my CME talk on “cough and shortness of breath” in HIV+ clients] The staff at FACES love it that I have a Chinese name. During the first staff-meeting (when I met everyone) I told them a story about my Chinese name and how people constantly …
